Doktor Jons Guide to the "Use and Application of CCTV"
This is the "News and Views" Section - Doktor Jon Comments

No sooner has the CCTV future arrived ... then it's past.

So much has happened in the world of CCTV this year, that it's difficult to look back and accept that 12 months have passed quite so quickly.

Whilst the technology moves on apace, particularly in the areas of recording and video analytics, the general level of improvement in system design and deployment doesn't actually seem to progress to any great degree.

That may well be down to an over reliance on the latest technology being used, to offset a lack of knowledge in how best to apply what's already available.

That said, 2008 has certainly been a very busy year for me, with growing interest in my TRUSTED CCTV Improvement project (the TRUSTED Camera Assessment documents are also gaining in popularity), and of course the new VIPER Image Evaluation service has also generated bucket loads of interest from right around the world, so that's very encouraging.

Towards the end of the year, it has become increasingly noticeable how many businesses in the wider security industry, have been significantly affected by the general economic downturn; something which is possibly only a relatively short term phenomenon for some, given that crime tends to increase rapidly when economy's move into recession.

But that aside, looking ahead to 2009 business confidence may well take an increasing hit, but then particularly in the security industry, this tends to encourage a focussing of minds, to hopefully deploy and operate more cost effective and efficient systems.

The days of naively throwing large sums of money at video surveillance projects, are over for the time being, and whilst that may help to improve standards more quickly, there is no doubt that the next year or two are going to be painful for many key players in the industry.

On the technology side, predictions of IP Video wiping out analogue, and in some cases the assertion that CCTV in it's conventional sense is all but dead, will be proven to be nothing more than misguided wishful thinking on the part of those, more in love with the technology, than the operational objectives for which it is used.

Many security managers will be faced with a very simple decision, upgrade to digital to look cool, or leverage their existing analogue equipment, to improve their security operations at a much reduced cost.

Whilst it may not be trendy to admit that conventional CCTV still has a lot of mileage in it, the fact that it will become increasingly difficult to justify going fully digital in many situations, is an unpalatable but necessary technological fact of life.

The wise will hopefully look at the most cost effective ways of improving or upgrading what is required to meet their objectives, whilst the foolish will continue to stick religiously to a utopian dream of technology that solves problems, as if by magic.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, but then there's a world of difference between what a Michelin starred chef can do with a bag of ingredients, and an average canteen cook.

Choose your recipes wisely my friends, and whatever you do, don't be tempted to cook the books :-))

A very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year to you all!!

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